Interesting, I think we have one of those models (Maytag) in storage at my Folk's resort--if my brother didn't have someone clean it out & haul to the dump! I will check next time I'm up. I had no idea it was that old!

Maytag did build cars. I talked to a Maytag collector in August. He really knew his stuff. Very nice collection. If I remember correctly, there aren't any still around. If there are, they're not roadworthy.

Don't get me started on Maytags. In the antique engine collecting world, you either love them or hate them. I like them. I have a twin cylinder that runs a white mountain 6 qt. ice cream freezer and I have a single cylinder 92.

I have Two of the Maytag washing machines illustrated. The Maytag auto was made in Waterloo, Iowa from 1910-11. The Mason auto was 1906-1910. The Mason auto name was changed to Maytag and the plant was listed as being in Waterloo, Iowa. The Mason was in Des Moines. The Duesenberg brothers designed the engines. Both are coveted collector autos.

My brother and I used to argue over who got to start the engine on our grandmother's washer. It had a kick start gas engine, Briggs I think. The washer was kept on the back porch at the farm. Used to love to visit them during the summer. The only bad memory I have is having to walk through the corrals at night to get to the outhouse. There was always some horse, mule or cow snorting from the darkness. That was traumatic at five or six years old.

One of my T friends has a Maytag auto. A project car but complete. I will be doing the engine bearings. It's a big two cylinder job. It lives in the Fresno area, may be the one HCCA lists in Ca. The owner was offered big money by Bill Harrah at one time in the 70's for it. A rare car indeed. Erik

The 1960 AACA roster of owned antique autos lists 4 Masons. Harrah owned two of them. Seven Maytags are listed. One was in the Harry Burg collection and was sold at his auction. Bill Harrah was at that auction. He sat right in front of me. He may have bought the Maytag. He did buy a Stanley.

There was least part of a Maytag in Minnesota. I found a set of fenders in about 1955. The owner said they were from a 1911 Maytag. I bought them and resold them to Louie Seekon of Minneapolis. Louie said he knew someone who needed them.

This was, no doubt, the basis for Henry Ford refusing to pay royalties, even on patents he acknowledged, such as the planetary. In particular, the last thing he wanted was to pay royalties to a bunch of bankers, who owned the Selden patents.

This is me with my first car, a 1936 Maytag. This particular one was purchased new at the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition. The boy who received it as a gift from his parents in 1936 sold it to me in 1968, a few days prior to this picture.

The big lever on the right side is the only control. Moving the lever forward tightens the idler pulley on the V belt, thereby transmitting all the raw power of the 1.5 HP 2 stroke Maytag engine directly to the right rear wheel. Pulling the lever rearward pushes a metal angle against the right rear tire for braking.

I undertook a "frame on" concours restoration of my Maytag using a quart of red Rustoleum, a 4 inch brush, and some aluminum lacquer for the brightwork. Since a NOS Maytag steering wheel was not available I settled for a 1957 Volkwagen wheel that was on Dad's scrap pile. A piece of orange vinyl was found that made a cover for the seat spring, carefully laced into place with aircraft safety wire.

Also try masonmotorcarcompany.homestead.com. Plenty of info and grainy pictures. I'm going to use this next month for articles I do in our developments newspaper on forgotten American makes. The weirder the better.

Those washing machines in Herb's second picture look like they have electric motors. Do they? When did they switch from the gas motor?

My parents bought my grandma a new Maytag washing machine in the late 1970's with an electric motor. It had button/pedal that sat on the floor and when you pressed it with your foot it operated the wringer. My grandma would press that button with her foot and the wringer would turn off and on. She said it was worthless and didn't work right. We watched her and figured out that she thought she had to "pump" the button with her foot--pressing it again and again. It took some explaining before she got the hang of it.

Rick, the top picture in this thread shows they had both electric and gas engines available early on, but the gas option was needed in remote rural areas where they still had to wait many years until they got electricity.